HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – Hill County Officials held their monthly meeting on Wednesday morning, and each present department head provided an update.
County Commission
Commissioner Jake Strissel says they are working with Bear Paw Development on plans to upgrade the Beaver Creek Lodge.
Strissel says they worked with the Substance Abuse and Misuse Coalition on revising the previously tabled Social Host Ordinance, and have sent it to the County Attorney for review. If it gets the go ahead, it could have a first reading at a County Commission Business Meeting in the weeks ahead.
Strissel says he is also spending lots of time working with the State of Montana to ensure the legalization of recreational marijuana goes smoothly in Hill County. He says he is looking into the regulations and what it takes to apply for business licenses.
Commissioner Mark Peterson says he is working on the final stages of proposals for rehabilitating Lift Stations 21 and 29/30 to go to bid.
Peterson says the Milk River levee survey has been completed and they are working on more projects on the levee. Next steps in the project to update the levee could include installing cameras in the culverts and repairing seepage berms and wells so they can be certified.
Commissioner Diane McLean says the project to repair Beaver Creek Dam is ongoing, and they are moving forward with a grant to add instrumentation to the dam so that they can get useful data.
Building Manager
Hill County Building Manager Joseph Smith says that their snowmelt system is ready to go and everything has been winterized, and new carpeting has been installed in portions of the Courthouse.
Treasurer
Treasurer Sandy Brown says her office is very busy dealing with taxes.
She wanted to let the public know that due to the fact that the Montana State Prison is currently out of metal, they are not receiving any new shipments of aluminum license plates.
Her office has a limited supply of aluminum plates and is discouraging anyone to get personalized plates at this time. Any plates that have to be ordered will be temporary and are placed in plastic sleeves. Brown says this is problematic, because they can easily be ripped off vehicles or fly away in the wind, and this could cause issues for law enforcement.
Per state law, license plates must be displayed on the outside of the car, so displaying them on a windshield is not an option.
Brown says she’s hopeful they can get aluminum plates back in early 2022.
Human Resources
Brittany Pfeifer says the County is continuing to accept applications for the open positions of Deputy Hill County Attorney and Administrative Assistant to the Beaver Creek Park Superintendent. There is also an opening for part-time Clerk for the Auditor’s Office, as well as numerous openings working at the Detention Center.
Health Department
Health Officer Kim Berg says her office continues working on issues related to COVID, but the good news is case rates are starting to come back down.
Berg says that the increased rates of COVID-19 vaccination in Hill County are encouraging. All age groups over 11 years old have had over 50 percent of their population receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The 5-11 age group is only at four percent, but that can be attributed to the fact that there were no authorized vaccines for them until recently.
There are vaccination clinics going on for COVID-19, flu, and regular routine vaccinations. Anyone interested in any of these vaccines can call the Health Department at 400-2415 to get scheduled.
Berg added that the Department’s immunization nurse is back from maternity leave, so they have increased availability for times people can receive vaccines.
Clerk and Recorder
Clerk and Recorder Sue Armstrong says things are business as usual, but the carpet installation in her department’s office caused issues. She says her office lost a day and a half of work due to the interruptions, and suggests that future installations are done outside of regular business hours.
Weed and Mosquito District
Coordinator Terry Turner said they are working on quarterly reports for grants and preparing for their annual meeting in January.
Council on Aging
Marci Bergren says that open enrollment for Medicare is ongoing, and she has personally seen over 200 people so far.
She says they are working on educating the public to remind seniors to check Part D of their Medicare, because there have been many recent changes. She also is encouraging seniors to enroll in Medicare savings, because it is increasing the deduction for Part B $144 to $170 and will lead to an increased payout in social security checks.
Council on Aging Director Don Kenny says they are increasing their outreach to Rocky Boy and believes there is a serious elder abuse issue going on there, as well as other parts of Hill County.
He says they are working on grant writing to secure additional funding for installing a program to help with elder abuse and neglect.
Bergren added that she is personally working on dealing with three different cases of elder abuse, and was only notified of the issue because people were brave enough to call her office. She says this likely means that the issue is more widespread.
Planning
County Planner Amy Ferguson says her office is busy working on claims.
Sheriff’s Office
Undersheriff Stan Martin says things have been business as usual, although they are working on scanning their jail files so they can digitize them.
MSU-Extension
Extension Agent Colleen Pegar says they are finishing up 4-H enrollments, but are otherwise business as usual. Enrollment is currently at 85 kids, down a bit from last year, although Pegar says that is due to many kids graduating from the program. She says the enrollment number is encouraging and a lot of new families are involved.
The Extension Office is also working with Havre Public Schools to hold community education courses.
County Superintendent of Schools
Victoria Proctor says all schools in the county have managed to stay healthy and open. She says her office is working on reporting out the ESSER grants they have received.
No representatives were present from the Offices of Hill County Attorney, Justice Court, District Court, Road Department and Auditor.
There will not be a County Officials meeting in December.
